


Officious

by lcdsra



Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [15]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27049117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdsra/pseuds/lcdsra
Summary: /əˈfiSHəs/adjective1. assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way, especially with regard to petty or trivial mattersOr: Leadership, as looked at by the leader.
Relationships: None
Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935553
Kudos: 2





	Officious

**Author's Note:**

> This is, really, just a way for me to world build.
> 
> AU: Ink on your body reaches out when your soulmate is nearby.
> 
> Character(s): Rain, Kirin, Clair  
> Relationship(s): None  
> Warning(s): None

Kirin Reyes’s style of leading was very hands on and direct. She was assertive in a way Rain found irritating at times, but effective when needed. They clashed, often, over a wide range of topics, from hiring to dealing with demands from their bosses.

This meeting, though, wasn’t about any of those topics. Reyes and Rain were eating lunch together, chatting, before Rain continued his meetings and Reyes participated in another mission.

“We’re going to need a third commander soon, Reyes.” Rain said, glancing at his watch, as if to prove a point.

“Veda’s doing a fine job standing in,” she pointed out. “Plus, with this whole Moon Shard business, I’m not very keen on taking on another project.”

“Taking on another project might help alleviate others down the line.”

“Or make it worse.” Reyes stood up and stretched. “Speaking of time, I need to go.”

Rain tossed their plastic containers into the trash. “Alright. Good luck with your mission.”

“Thanks. Oh, and by the way, your 1 o-clock is going to request a handler transfer.” Reyes said, just as she was about to leave. “I’ve looked into the handler and I’d recommend you do the same.”

He didn’t get a chance to say anything when Reyes slipped out of his office, the door locking behind her. Rain wondered just who wanted a handler transfer from him, considering almost everyone knew that Reyes was the one who actually did those kinds of things.

If this person was talking to him, then it was very serious and involved Reyes (unlikely), or this agent was new and didn’t know Reyes was the one to deal with handler changes.

Regardless, Rain could handle it himself. And if Reyes deemed it worthy enough to both look into it and warn him about this agent’s request, it was worth at least doing the same.

His intercom buzzed to let him know someone was at the door. He tapped the screen to unlock the door, which opened hesitantly to reveal a young woman with short brown hair, clutching a manila folder.

Rain had a sudden flashback to his brief stint as a high school teacher, when Clair Fletcher stepped inside. She looked like some of his shyer student did, whenever they had to ask for help. She fidgeted a little, and seemed almost hesitant to enter, even after the door opened.

He nearly expected the gentle guiding hand of a parent to push her forward to speak.

“Hello, my name is Raimond Collins. I assume you’re Clair Fletcher?” He said calmly. “Would you like to sit down.”

The girl sucked in a nervous breath and sat down. “Yeah, hi, I’m Clair- well, I guess you know that.” She mumbled the last sentence and moved to curl up protectively, but forced herself to relax. “I- my handler, well, Rune actually, told me to have a meeting with you about requesting to have a different handler.”

“Ah,” Rain’s hum of confirmation was more about hearing Rune’s name, than the news. He knew of Fletcher, vaguely, but not by name. Rune’s sponsorship didn’t travel far, but as a head commander, he, Warren, and Moore were notified immediately. “What, exactly, prompted this?”

Fletcher brought the folder that was in her lap onto his desk. He reached out and took it, glancing over the first page. It was a mission report, the copy that Fletcher had most likely received to prepare. Her handler was Michael Richmond, who he noted was sometimes problematic in his methods, but got results.

He flipped the pages inside the folder to the very end and found the results of the mission. It was classified as a failure, though there were no injuries and the only person who died was the objective.

“I can’t work with him.” Fletcher admitted. “I can’t trust him. He sent me as bait.”

“I can see that.” Rain commented, flipping forward to the handler’s notes on Fletcher. He found that Richmond had stated that Fletcher was difficult to work with, and always needed to know all the information surrounding a mission. “I normally don’t do this, but I’d personally recommend Kirin Reyes to be your handler.”

Fletcher didn’t recognize the name, the significance of that recommendation, but Rain suddenly understood why Reyes might’ve extended the invitation for Rune’s trainee to join Elemental Air. When Reyes had first joined STARS, she too needed to trust her handler entirely before being willing to not be given information.

Reyes was much better as a handler, and knew how to work with agents like herself and hopefully Fletcher. “Okay.” Fletcher said. “How would I do that?”

“I’ll contact Reyes, and you’ll have to do a few training and trust exercises, like the ones you did with Richmond, then you’ll get signed to be her agent. She should be in contact with you about those things, but I can also help out if needed.”

The girl across from him went back to shifting uncomfortably, but nodded. “Thank you. And what of Richmond?”

“I’ll make a note so that neither of you are assigned to work together.”

She seemed shocked, almost. “That’s it?”

Rain tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“He lied to me. I could’ve died, or worse!”

He sighed. “Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about that.”

Fletcher frowned at him, “You’re his boss. You could fire him!”

“It’s more complicated than that.” It was. Richmond had a history of complaints but he was also a skilled handler and planner. Though many agents complained about him, many others thrived under his leadership. “I will evaluate this mission but the best thing for you, now, is to work with someone else.”

Fletcher sighed, deflating slightly, but nodded. They wrapped up their meeting quickly and Rain composed an email to Reyes to ask for her permission to officially move Fletcher under her care.

He was careful to not force anyone into agreeing, even if he did give suggestions. He was keenly aware that it would’ve been easy to simply assign Fletcher to Reyes, sign them up for partnership training and hope for the best.

But in his experience, that didn’t foster a very good working relationship.

: : :

_“I don’t want to work with Ms. Connor!”_

_“Rain, behave. You will work with this math tutor, and you will like it.”_

_“Why don’t you just let me choose!?”_

_“Because you’d_ never _choose.”_

: : :

Reyes got back to Rain immediately after he sent the email about Fletcher becoming one of her agents. He suspected she was still in her mission when she simply sent ‘7’. He guessed they’d be meeting at 7, a time where Reyes knew that Rain didn’t take meets.

At 7 PM sharp, a few knocks came to his door. He remotely unlocked it and waited for Reyes to enter.

“I don’t work with 1 year olds.”

Rain raised a brow at the phrasing. Sometimes, agents referred to themselves and each other by how many years they had been with STARS, especially Elemental Air. He hadn’t realized Reyes did it too. “Why?”

Reyes rolled her shoulders back, shutting the door behind her. “Inexperienced trainees can’t handle my style.”

“This one can.”

“You do realize I can’t work with Clair, even if she wasn’t new, right?”

“And why is that?” Reyes touched her hip, where Rain knew her soul mark was. And without words, he suddenly realized it. “Oh.”

“We’re soulmates, Rain.” She said seriously. “I don’t think I can send her to her potential death every day.”

Rain sighed, and nodded. “I understand that now. Perhaps form a relationship with her, to any capacity, then delegate her missions to other handlers who she could trust.”

“I don’t want to grieve when she dies.”

“I know. But you will, even if you don’t know her.”

Reyes frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

What Rain didn’t say was that he felt his own soulmate die years ago. He never got a chance to meet his soulmate, the ink that danced on his palm didn’t ever reach out to his fingertips. And yet for days he grieved the person he never knew, when his ink stopped moving.

Reyes caught on without him having to say anything. She pressed her lips together, and looked away. “I-“ she bit her lip. Rain watched his partner closely, and didn’t speak. “I will admit, I don’t know what to do with her. I feel this attraction to her but she’s not supposed to be mine.”

“The universe works in strange ways, Kirin.” Reyes looked up sharply at her first name. “Guide her. Be kind to her. And let her find her own way, when she needs it.”

“Kindness is scary.” Kirin replied, quietly.

Rain nodded, he knew what she meant. “I think Fletcher would agree. Show her that it doesn’t have to be. And maybe she can do the same.”

**Author's Note:**

> If I am reborn and come to meet you, do you think this shredded up heart of mine will heal?  
> You see, I was manipulated by someone else, and was intoxicated by that pair of fake wings.  
> It would be great if I could go back to that day, it would be great if I could go back to that day  
> Trapped between the previous life and the after life, the one-way street of life continues on.
> 
> \- Last Continue by PinocchioP


End file.
